Higher earnings expected from tourism, says minister

Barbados is on track to rake in higher tourism earnings this year.

Minister of Tourism and International Transport Ian Gooding-Edghill made the disclosure yesterday during the State of the Tourism Industry Update forum at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael.

“We were able to increase tourism earnings in 2024 by $418.7 million compared to the same period [the previous] year,” the minister told tourism stakeholders.

In a forum in which the heads of various Government tourism and tourism-related departments gave accounts of individual performances yearto- date, Gooding-Edghill said the demand for Barbados as a tourism destination remained high despite competition from other destinations.

For this reason, he said he was pushing ahead with his airlift efforts to get more flights from existing and potential source markets into Barbados, to ensure the beds in the 1 600 new hotel rooms due to come on stream over the next four years will be filled.

Airlift

He thanked the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. for its marketing efforts and said: “Overall, it is safe to say that we

have done, compared to the last winter season, a relatively good job.

“I can also tell you that the expansive efforts that we have made in relation to our airlift strategy continue to yield positive dividends for Barbados and markets that we once had access to going back ten or 11 years ago, have returned.”

Gooding-Edghill also made reference to the Canadian market, which had a record performance in 1979.

“I believe even though it has dwindled somewhat we are now back on track and I believe very shortly that we can get back that record . . . because it is our will to drive more business from that market,” he said.

More business into the Barbados market, he added, would mean business for the whole gamut of people involved in the tourism industry.

Improving seasonality in the sector must continue to be high on the tourism agenda, the minister added. (GC)